Coffin



(No Model.)

-E. 8v. B. HOLMES.v

GOFPIN.

Patented Deo. 24, 1889.

dfm -;%ew, Inventors.

Bgeln/na u Attorney,

Witnesses.

)L JMW.

, UNITED STATES 1'PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD HOLMES AND BRITAIN HOLMES, OF BUFFALO, NEV YORK.

COFFIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 417,725, dated December24, 1889.

I Application filed August 2, 1889. Serial No. 319.519. (No model.)

To aZZ whom 1325 may concern.:

` Be it known that we, EDWARD HOLMES and BRITAIN HOLMES, both citizensof the United States, residing in Bualo, in the county-of Erie and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBurial-Gaskets, of which the following is a speciiication.

The object of our invention is to provide a suitable means for easilyand quietlyvopening and closing a burialcasket, when required, and alsoto preserve a 'uniform appearance in the top of the casket when closed,all of which will be fully and clearly hereinafter described andclaimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure l is a plan view of a casket, showing the upper lid closed. Fig.2'is a vertical longitudinal. section through the upper portion of acasket, in or about line a b, Fig. 1.

1 Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the upper portion of a casket online c d, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation through aportion of the top of a casket, cutting also longitudinally Vthrough themovable lid.

Our invention consists in the combination, witha casket-lid, of aflexible face-lid adapted to be easily drawn through curved or irregulargrooves, the object being to allow the cover to be raised up even withthe top of the casket by the act oi. closing it, and to cause it to passdown into the grooves under the rear portion of the top of the casket bythe act of opening it.

In said drawings we have shown a suitable means for carrying out ourinvention.

The cover 1 of a casket maybe made of any desired shape or design, andconstructed in any well-known way, or made of any suitable material.. Oneach inner side of the casket-top is a longitudinal groove 3, passing 1in curved lines over the forward portion of the casket, as shown in Fig.2, so as to correspond with the curved panel or top portion 2 of therear portion of the casket, or these grooves may pass in straightgrooves 3, `as shown in Fig. 4. Vhere Athe grooves 3 pass .down underthe central or cross panel 5 'of the casket-top, they are made to eitherincline or curve downward, as at 6, far enough to get downunder the top5,- after which they pass in substantially straight lines under the topof the casket. .(See Fig. 2.)

7, in l, 2, and 3, represents the flexible face lid or cover. This covermay be constructed of any flexible material that is pliable'enough topermit it to be pushed back and forth through the curved loweringportions 6 of the grooves 3.

Indiarubber may be made to answer the purpose, or athin top made ofanywell-known flexible material may be used; but is preferably Inade ofa series of narrow strips or bars of Wood or other well-known material,with a covering of cloth 9 at the top and a covering of any suitablethin sheet material 10 at the bottom. (See Fig. 4.) If the thin material10 be sheet metal-such as thin copper or zinc-the strips may be rivetedor otherwise fastened to it. The cloth 9 is preferably secured to theopposite side of the strips 8 by glue or any suitable adhesive material.This construction produces a lid that is iiexible enough to be movedeasily back and forth in either a curved, serpentine, or a straightgroove, so that the rear top 2 and front portions of. the top of thecasket may be made alike and of any curved ornamental shape that may bedesired.

Below the grooves 3, at each inner side of the cover, is a groove 12,into which a glass or other transparent sliding face-lid 13 is placed,so as to slide easily back and forth. (See Figs. 2 and 3.)

At or near the front end of the fiexible'face lid or cover 7 is a smallknob or other suitable device 14, by which it is moved back and forth.

We claim as our invention- The combination, with a casket-top, of atleXible face-cover, curved irregular-shaped grooves, in which the covermoves while bc- ,ing opened or closed, and a sliding transparent coverlocated in grooves below the facecover, substantially as described.

EDWARD IIoLMEs. BRITAIN HOLMES.

Witnesses:

JAMEs SANGsTER, ARTHER J. SANGsTEE.

